Andrew Edmond Foster (October 12, 1867—November 5, 1956
) was a politician in
Manitoba, Canada. He served in the
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1922 to 1927, and again from 1932 to 1936.
Foster was born in
Enterprise,
Ontario, the son of Andrew Foster and Annabella Victoria Boddy, and was educated in that province. He worked as a farmer.
He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the
1922 provincial election. Running as a candidate of the
United Farmers of Manitoba
The Progressive Party of Manitoba, Canada, was a political party that developed from the United Farmers of Manitoba (UFM), an agrarian movement that became politically active following World War I.
See also
*List of political parties in Canada
...
(UFM) in the
Killarney constituency,
he defeated his
Conservative opponent G.W. Waldon by 202 votes. The UFM unexpectedly won a majority of seats in this election, and formed government as the
Progressive Party. Foster was a backbench supporter of
John Bracken's government.
In the
1927 provincial election, Foster lost to Conservative candidate
John Laughlin by 255 votes. He was returned to the legislature in the
1932 election, defeating Laughlin
by 90 votes. Prior to this election, the Progressive Party had formed an electoral alliance with the
Manitoba Liberal Party, and government members became known as "Liberal-Progressives". Foster again served as a backbench supporter of Bracken's ministry.
He lost to Laughlin for a second time in the
1936 election,
this time by 509 votes.
In 1940, the Liberal-Progressives and Conservatives formed a wartime
coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
. Foster again challenged Laughlin in Hamiota, this time running as an anti-coalition Liberal. Laughlin, now a supporter of Bracken's government, won the challenge easily.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Andrew
1867 births
1956 deaths
Progressive Party of Manitoba MLAs